After the Age of the pharaohs, Egypt's colorful history continued. In 332 BC Alexander the Great marched into Egypt in his quest to defeat the Persian Empire. Then Ptolemy fused Greek and Egyptian cultures during the flourishing Hellenistic period. With the defeat of Octavian's fleet in in 31 BC, Egypt became an important province within the Roman Empire - before the Empire fell and the Byzantine Empire emerged. A new era dawned with the emergence of Islam in the Arabian Peninsula in the mid 7th century. Dr. Dirk Van Tuerenhout will review Egypt's history from ca. 300 BC to 646 AD, a period during which foreign rulers decided the fate of this ancient land. Dirk Van Tuerenhout is curator of anthropology at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. This lecture is co-sponsored by Rice University's Glasscock School of Continuing Studies.